When my daughter Jo was little, I made her a yellow dress lined with pink satin, embroidered with a butterfly almost exactly like this one.

She loved it and wore it ALL THE TIME. When she outgrew it she passed it on to a smaller friend who also wore it ALL THE TIME. The last time I saw it around town, it was on a new little girl. Her Mom said she loved it and wore it ALL THE TIME.

I’m sure it was the satin lining getting all the love – but all three girls called it their “butterfly dress.”

Now you can make a butterfly dress – or t-shirt or pillow or tea towels or quilt or whatever needs a butterfly stitched on it.

My favorite way to transfer an embroidery pattern is to use Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy. You can see it in action in this video. Just print the pattern right on the stabilizer, peel off the paper backing, and stick it down wherever you want to stitch your design. It works great for stabilizing stretchy fabrics like T-shirts too!

This cute little butterfly uses only backstitch – with optional running stitches if you decide to include her swoopy flight path. Those are the two easiest stitches in the whole embroidery world! And if you’re brand spankin’ new to embroidery, just click on the links to watch videos to see how to do them.

I used 4 strands of thread for everything except the butterfly’s face and antennae. I used just 2 strands for them.